Bee newspapers support requiring Comcast to expand Internet Essentials service for

low-income Californians, as condition of merger approval

San Francisco, CA and Los Angeles, CA – March 20, 2015 – Today, The Sacramento Bee published an editorial, entitled “If They Approve Comcast-Time Warner Merger, Regulators Must Find Ways to Control a Company People Hate.” The same editorial also appeared in the The Fresno Bee, entitled, “Regulators Must Thoroughly Analyze Comcast Merger” and in The Modesto Bee, entitled, “Take a Very Close Look at Comcast Merger”. The editorials say a recommendation by the California Public Utilities Commission Administrative Law Judge Karl J. Bemesderfer “forcing Comcast to expand its low-cost Internet service for low-income Californians” is “a good start.”

The Bee editorials links to an opinion piece authored for the newspaper by Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, who supports the recommendations of the California Emerging Technology Fund and Internet For All Now to expand and improve Comcast Internet Essentials, if the merger is approved.

Here is the full editorial, as it appears in TheSacramento Bee:

If they approve Comcast-Time Warner merger, regulators must find ways to control a company people love to hate

The cable television and Internet service provider is big and cumbersome and at times maddeningly inefficient. People complain about government, but Comcast seems to combine the worst of the post office and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Now this utility behemoth seems on the verge of growing bigger by taking over Time Warner Cable Inc.

The $45 billion merger is subject to review by the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Because the two companies compete head-to-head in very few locations, conventional wisdom has been that antitrust regulators are unlikely to stop the marriage. Although the FCC paused its review, a decision is thought to be relatively near.

While there’s still time, officials who oversee the communications industry, including California’s Public Utilities Commission, need to give this deal their own very thorough review before allowing it to move forward.

Comcast, based in Philadelphia, rose to dominance as a cable television company. But Comcast’s cable business is declining, thanks to the changing viewing habits of “cord cutters” who get their video content a la carte over the Internet directly from Netflix, Amazon and other providers.

One day, the major sports leagues will find it profitable to allow live, direct Internet access to their games. When that happens, the content side of cable television will have to please its customers in new ways or slip into obsolescence.

Unfortunately, the same is not true of Comcast’s Internet business. While there is hope that some sort of universal Wi-Fi could one day cut into the company’s dominance, for the foreseeable future that is not going to happen.

Comcast controls the pipes. It has some competition in that realm, from AT&T, Verizon and Google, among others, but it remains the dominant player.

And a merger with Time Warner would make Comcast even stronger, with the new entity controlling half of all broadband connections in the country and more than 80 percent in California.

Comcast executives say the FCC’s recent decision on net neutrality will prevent Comcast or any other Internet service provider from using market power to unfairly block content from reaching consumers. But until those rules are in effect and proven to work, regulators need to apply extra caution to this merger because it would give one company such a powerful place atop the Internet pecking order.

Comcast has already blocked customers from accessing HBO and Showtime on certain devices. Meanwhile, the fledgling Spanish-language network Estrella alleges that Comcast is trying to shove it off the air to protect Comcast’s own Telemundo from competition. There should be protections against such practices.

If a more powerful Comcast is able to use its market power to control content that flows over the Internet, rich and poor would suffer the consequences. Regulators need to make sure that doesn’t happen if this merger goes forward.

For a list of the more than 120 organizations supporting recommendations for closing the Digital Divide, please visit bit.ly/1EAL2Xj